Jane Beal – författare

This book enhances our understanding of the exquisitely beautiful, fourteenth-century, Middle English dream vision poem Pearl. Situating the study in the contexts of medieval literary criticism and contemporary genre theory, Beal argues that the poet intended Pearl to be read at four levels of meaning and in four corresponding genres: literally, an elegy; spiritually, an allegory; morally, a consolation; and anagogically, a revelation. The book addresses cruxes and scholarly debates about the poem’s genre and meaning, including key questions that have been unresolved in Pearl studies for over a century:

* What is the nature of the relationship between the Dreamer and the Maiden?

* What is the significance of allusions to Ovidian love stories and the use of liturgical time in the poem?

* How does avian symbolism, like that of the central symbol of the pearl, develop, transform, and add meaning throughout the dream vision?

* What is the nature of God portrayed in the poem, and how does the portrayal of the Maiden’s intimate relationship to God, her spiritual marriage to the Lamb, connect to the poet’s purpose in writing?

Noting that the poem is open to many interpretations, Beal also considers folktale genre patterns in Pearl, including those drawn from parable, fable, and fairy-tale. The conclusion considers Pearl in the light of modern psychological theories of grieving and trauma. This book makes a compelling case for re-reading Pearl and recognizing the poem’s signifying power. Given the ongoing possibility of new interpretations, it will appeal to those who specialize in Pearl as well as scholars of Middle English, Medieval Literature, Genre Theory, and Literature and Religion.

This book enhances our understanding of the exquisitely beautiful, fourteenth-century, Middle English dream vision poem Pearl. Situating the study in the contexts of medieval literary criticism and contemporary genre theory, Beal argues that the poet intended Pearl to be read at four levels of meaning and in four corresponding genres: literally, an elegy; spiritually, an allegory; morally, a consolation; and anagogically, a revelation. The book addresses cruxes and scholarly debates about the poem’s genre and meaning, including key questions that have been unresolved in Pearl studies for over a century:

* What is the nature of the relationship between the Dreamer and the Maiden?

* What is the significance of allusions to Ovidian love stories and the use of liturgical time in the poem?

* How does avian symbolism, like that of the central symbol of the pearl, develop, transform, and add meaning throughout the dream vision?

* What is the nature of God portrayed in the poem, and how does the portrayal of the Maiden’s intimate relationship to God, her spiritual marriage to the Lamb, connect to the poet’s purpose in writing?

Noting that the poem is open to many interpretations, Beal also considers folktale genre patterns in Pearl, including those drawn from parable, fable, and fairy-tale. The conclusion considers Pearl in the light of modern psychological theories of grieving and trauma. This book makes a compelling case for re-reading Pearl and recognizing the poem’s signifying power. Given the ongoing possibility of new interpretations, it will appeal to those who specialize in Pearl as well as scholars of Middle English, Medieval Literature, Genre Theory, and Literature and Religion.

Enter the wondrous world of the Selkie.

According to Celtic legend, a selkie is a seal underwater and a woman on land. Sometimes she emerges from the ocean, shedding her white selkie-coat to dance on the sand in moonlight. In the liminal space of the shore, she is vulnerable to capture by a man, and she may become a man''s wife and the mother of children. In Song of the Selkie, the Selkie voices her experience of being caught between two worlds: one of the sea, of freedom, and the other of marriage and motherhood. Other voices join in: a Lighthouse-Keeper, the spirit of Ruth, and even a baby. Through these poems, readers can enjoy the  extraordinary magic of selkie stories, and-through their retelling-gain insight into experiences of love and loss, the fears and choices experienced by women, and of finding hope in the future.